Many of the Trump administration’s spending priorities seem to be dramatically different from those of past administrations. But at least one, on the surface, appears to have been preserved: expanding access to broadband internet.

Bush was unable to fulfill this promise, so the Obama administration kept at it. And though it is still early, there are no clear indications that the Trump budget will break from this emphasis on expanding broadband access to Americans who don’t yet have it. But the benefits of the internet depend on more than access to the wires; the rules about online traffic are at least as important.

The state of the American internet

Quite a bit of work remains to get Americans online. In 2016, a federal report found that roughly 10 percent of Americans lack access to high-speed internet service. There is a sharp divide between urban and rural communities’ access: Just 4 percent of urban-dwelling Americans don’t have even the chance to buy internet service that meets federal definitions of broadband speeds. In rural America, however, 39 percent of Americans lack broadband access. For Americans living on tribal land, it’s worse: 41 percent of them don’t have access to high-speed internet.

These numbers suggest that efforts to expand broadband access have been very successful for some communities, and much less so for others. This digital divide means those with internet access gain advantages while people without it fall behind.

Broadband as a public utility

If citizens don’t have high-speed internet service connecting them to markets, schools and government, they can’t engage in activities that could significantly improve their well-being. Recognizing this fact – that internet service is now as central to American social, business and civic life as electricity and telephone service – the Obama administration successfully rallied the Federal Communications Commission to classify broadband access as a public utility.

Federal courts also played a role, ruling that the FCC had to declare the internet a public utility if it wanted to ensure “net neutrality,” the principle that all online traffic should be treated equally. That way the media conglomerates that own the country’s major internet service providers can’t unfairly stifle competition from startups. For instance, Comcast couldn’t slow down Netflix content in hopes customers would prefer to use Comcast’s own video services, which could be delivered more quickly.

The intent was to foster conditions for more equal access not only to the internet itself, but to all its various content. The internet’s benefits come, after all, not from the connection itself but the data that travels over that connection.

Trump’s budget proposal calls for upgrades to broadband infrastructure. At present there are few details about what exactly those efforts will look like. But Pai’s moves to deregulate online activity suggest the administration won’t use other regulations to guide broadband expansion.

That leaves unclear what methods, if any, the Trump administration will use to ensure all Americans get equal access to this important resource for personal and civic life.